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MEMORIAL 


THE  TRUSTEES 


OF    THE 


CJOLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS 


THE   CITY  OF  NEW-YORK. 


iM    REPLY    TO   THE   "MEMORIAL   OF   THE   PROFESSORS   OF  RUTGERS' 
MEDICAL    FACULTY." 


NEW- YORK : 

PRINTED  BY  J.  &  J.  HARPER,  82  CLIFF-STREET 

1830, 


a.z 


ADVERTISEMENT 


The  Trustees  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  prepared  the  following  Memorial,  with  the 
intention  of  presenting  it  to  the  Legislature  while  the 
subject  was  pending  of  granting  a  charter  for  another 
medical  college  in  this  city.  Although  the  rejection 
of  the  bill  in  the  Senate?  in  the  mean  time,  has,  as 
they  hope,  for  ever  put  the  subject  at  rest  in  the  Le- 
gislature, the  Trustees  still  think  it  a  duty  which  they 
owe  to  those  members  of  the  Senate  who  voted 
against  the  bill,  and  to  their  own  body,  who  have  uni- 
formly opposed  it,  to  publish  the  following  facts,  that 
the  nature  of  the  controversy  may  be  duly  appreciated, 
and  the  minds  of  those  persons  disabused  who  have 
read  the  extraordinary  document  of  the  Medical  Fa* 
culty  of  Rutgers'  College. 

NpM-York,  April  12.  1830. 


MEMOHIAIi 

OF  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SUR- 
GEONS OF  THE  CITY  OF  NEW- YORK,  IN  REPLY  TO  THE 
"MEMORIAL  OF  THE  PROFESSORS  OF  RUTGERS'  MEDICAL 
FACULTY." 

To  the  Honourable  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New-York. 

Your  memorialists  do  not  regret  that  an  opportunity  is 
afforded  them,  of  exhibiting  to  your  honourable  body  the 
character  of  the  testimony  and  the  nature  of  the  means  relied 
upon  by  the  individuals,  styling  themselves  the  Rutgers'  Medi- 
cal Faculty,  in  urging  before  the  Legislature  their  claims  to  a 
charter,  which  will  give  to  them  the  two-fold  power  of  trus- 
tees and  professors  of  a  second  medical  college  in  the  city  of 
New- York. 

If  the  document  which  has  been  gravely  presented  to  your 
honourable  body,  purporting  to  be  a  refutation  of  the  facts 
stated  by  your  present  memorialists  in  a  former  communica- 
tion, is  itself  founded  in  truth,  then  indeed  it  is  entitled  to 
consideration  ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  made  to  appear 
that  it  consists  of  misrepresentations,  erroneous  statements,  and 
fallacious  reasoning,  then  it  is  not  only  unworthy  of  credit,  but 
the  authors  of  it  are  undeserving  of  legislative  confidence  and 
patronage.  Now,  your  memorialists  are  willing  to  rest  the 
issue  of  the  whole  matter  upon  their  success  or  failure  in 
showing  that  the  document  in  question  is  intrinsically  untrue  or 
fallacious,  and  obviously  calculated  to  deceive  and  mislead. 
And  that  your  memorialists  may  not  be  accused  of  perverting 


the  meaning,  or  unfairly  representing  their  opponents,  the\ 
have  taken  pains  to  give  the  entire  document  in  their  own 
language. 

Their  memorial  commences  as  follows : — 

"  The  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  this  city  apply  to 
il  your  honourable  body  against  granting  a  charter  to  the  undersigned., 
"  and  our  opponents  allege  against  us  in  substance,  that  if  we  obtain 
"  a  charter,  we  will  break  down  their  institution.  It  is  clear,  how- 
"  ever,  that  we  cannot  effect  this  result,  unless  by  evincing  greater 
"merit:  and  shall  the  Legislature  discourage  the  greater  for  the 
"  sake  of  favouring  the  less  ?  Such  is  not  the  course  of  the  enlight- 
"  ened  patrons  of  science  or  industry  in  any  thing  else ;  it  is  also  at 
"  variance  with  the  justice  which  the  free  citizens  of  this  community 
-•  have  a  right  to  expect  from  their  representatives." 

Is  it  true  that  we  have  alleged  against  our  opponents,  that  if 
they  obtain  a  charter  they  will  break  down  our  institution  ?  It 
is  not  true.  Our  language  was  as  follows  : — "  The  number  of 
"  students  resorting  to  the  city  of  New- York  is  not,  and  never 
".  has  been,  sufficient,  competently,  to  support  two  schools : 
"  and  therefore,  the  establishment  of  a  second  college  must 
"  unavoidably  result  in  the  eventual  ruin  of  one  or  both,  unless 
"supported  by  legislative  aid."  Now,  by  referring  to  that 
memorial  it  will  be  seen,  that  this  opinion  was  founded  on  a 
statement  of  facts  most  conclusive  and  unanswerable.  And 
while  your  memorialists  repeat  the  sentiment,  and  deprecate  a 
contest  which  would  be  most  unprofitable  to  both  parties,  and 
highly  injurious  to  the  public,  they  believe,  and  they  always 
have  believed,  it  would  terminate  in  the  triumph  of  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons. 

The  great  merit  to  which  the  gentlemen  modestly  allude  in 
the  foregoing  paragraph,  will  be  examined  in  the  sequel. 

"  We  have  no  compulso^  process  to  bring  students  to  our  lectures  ; 
M  we  have  no  bonus  to  offer  them  of  degrees  from  the  Regents,  which 
'■'•  shall  be  a  license  to  practicp.     One  thing  only  have  we  to  offer  them 


•  lor  theii  lees  aha  attendance ;  it  is  knowledge,  which,  under  ever} 
;;  disadvantage,  they  come  to  find  in  our  institution.  The  complain- 
!i  ants  against  us  also  make  it  an  accusation  that  we  put  the  expenses 
"  of  education  at  our  institution  as  high  as  at  their  own  5  which  shows. 
"'  at  least,  that  we  do  not  seek  to  take  a  mean  advantage,  or  to  found 
"  success  upon  aught  but  merit.  In  those  circumstances  we  humbly 
"..submit,  that  impartiality  is  most  becoming  the  Legislature,  and  that 
"  it  should  not  raise  impediments  to  the  free  choice  of  students,  as- 
"  sailing  their  rights  and  our  industry  together,  with  the  intent  of 
"constraining  scholars,  against  their  judgment,  to  resort  to  teachers 
"'whom  they  do  not  voluntarily  prefer.  If  we  have  committed  a 
■;  fault,  our  opponents  are  unable  to  profit  by  it ;  so  they  pray  the 
"  Legislature  to  punish  us  for  our  prosperous  attainments;" 

We  will  not  stop  to  inquire,  whether  the  gentlemen  might 
not  as  well  bring  students  to  their  lectures  by  compulsion,  as 
by  stratagem ;  but  is  not  the  very  object  of  their  petition,  the 
power  of  offering  "  a  bonus  of  degrees  from  the  Regents  ?"  If 
not,  if  the  pupil  seeks  only  for  that  knowledge  which  these 
gentlemen  only,  it  would  seem,  are  competent  to  impart, 
where  is  the  ground  of  controversy  ?  Surely  we  have  no 
desire  to  extinguish  this  luminous  body ;  we  would  rather 
rejoice  to  see  their  influence  in  promoting  science  increased 
in  reality,  to  the  unparalleled  degree  to  which  they  imaoine 
it  already  arrived. 

But  is  it  true,  that  your  memorialists  make  an  accusation 
against  their  opponents,  for  putting  the  expenses  of  education 
in  Rutgers'  College  equal  to  their  own  ?  It  is  not  true.  We 
say,  that  "  so  far  from  competition  having  had  the  effect  of 
"  lowering  the  price  of  education,  the  contrary  has  been  the 
:'  result.  In  Rutgers'  College  during  the  present  session,  the 
"ticket  of  the  professor  of  anatomy  has  been  raised  from 
■•  fifteen  to  twenty  dollars,  and  the  matriculation  fee  from  three 
"  to  five  dollars  for  each  student.  Indeed,  such  seems  to  be 
"  the  unavoidable  consequence  ;  when  the  number  of  student* 
'  is  limited,  the  highest  possible  prices  must  be  obtained,  tn 
M  meet  the  expenses  of  the  establishment.'" 


By  what  perversion  of  meaning  can  this  language  be  cult 
strued  into  an  accusation?  As  well  might  it  be  called  an 
assault  and  battery.  No ;  this  gratuitous  charge  is  very  ob- 
viously designed  as  a  suitable  exordium  to  the  succeeding 
part  of  the  sentence ;  viz.  the  success  of  the  gentlemen  depends 
upon  their  magnanimity  and  their  peculiar  merit.  From  these 
premises,  the  Faculty  of  Rutgers'  deduce  some  instructive  and 
salutary  hints,  which  they  kindly  suggest  for  the  better  con- 
duct of  the  Legislature. 

"  Say  they,  '  the  number  of  students  in  this  city  is  not  adequate  to 
" 6  support  two  schools  ;'  but  we  would  remind  those  gentlemen,  that  a 
"  faculty  of  physic  existed  formerly  in  Columbia  College,  and  that  for 
"  a  great  number  of  years  it  monopolized  the  whole  medical  education 
"  of  the  city ;  yet  it  never  flourished.  We  know  that  one  of  its  most 
"  important  and  popular  courses,  had,  at  one  time,  but  seven  students  ; 
"  that  the  whole  number  never  exceeded  sixty-four,  and  never 
"  reached  so  high  but  once.  During  the  existence  of  this  faculty,  and 
"  in  despite  of  its  opposition — the  College  of  Physicians  was  char- 
"  tei-ed,  and  the  new  school  in  no  very  long  time  counted  two 
"  hundred." 

In  relation  to  the  first  part  of  the  foregoing  sentence,  your 
memorialists  do  not  think  it  sufficiently  relevant  to  the  case  in 
question,  to  require  that  they  should  examine  into  the  condi- 
tion of  the  medical  school  connected  with  Columbia  College 
twenty  years  ago.  But  your  honourable  body  is  invited,  par- 
ticularly, to  compare  the  concluding  sentence  with  the  fol- 
lowing facts,  extracted  from  the  minutes  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons,  as  recorded  by  the  gentlemen  them- 
selves. During  the  first  three  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Col- 
lege, when  one  pupil  from  each  county  in  the  state  was  gratu- 
itously admitted  to  the  lectures — the  numbers  were  as  follows  : 
In  1807    ---    -     52 

1808  -    ---    76 

1809  -    -    -    -    84 

During  the  next  three  years,  when  pupils  were  not  admitted 


9 

gratuitously,  with  alJ  the  benefit  of  competition,  the  number  of 
pupils  was, 

In  1810    -    -    -    -    24 

1811  .---    31 

1812  -     -    -    -    44 

Now,  what  do  the  gentlemen  mean  when  they  say,  that  in 
despite  of  the  opposition  of  Columbia  College,  the  number  of 
pupils  soon  increased  to  "  two  hundred  ?" 

At  this  time,  1813,  the  injurious  effects  of  two  schools  were 
felt  by  both  so  severely,  that  a  union  between  them  was  formed, 
the  faculty  of  Columbia  College  bein^-  merged  in  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  The  gentlemen  now  composing 
the  Faculty  of  Rutgers'  College,  were  Professors ;  and  for  13 
years,  they  and  their  associates  continued  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  the  College.  During  this  long  period,  in  the  full  ex- 
ercise of  their  meritorious  powers,  of  which  they  never  cease 
to  make  mention,  and  aided,  too,  by  large  grants  of  money 
from  the  State,  what  were  the  results  of  their  wisdom  and 
talents  ?  It  will  be  found  by  the  following  statement,  that  it 
was  nine  years  after  the  union  of  the  two  colleges,  before  the 
number  of  pupils  increased  to  two  hundred  :  that  then  the  num- 
ber began  to  diminish ;  and  that  in  1825,  the  last  year  of  their 
labours,  they  had  but  158  pupils, 

In  1813  -  -    99  In  1820  -  -  185 

1814  -  -  no  returns  1821  -  -  202 

1815  -  -  149  1822  -  -  201 

1816  -  -  142  1823  -  -  201 

1817  -  -  144  1824  -  -  195 

1818  -  -  173  1825  -  -  158 

1819  -  -  155 

"  The  number  of  medical  students  resorting  to  a  seminary  of  medi- 
"  cal  education  is  not  founded  on  the  population  of  the  place,  but  on 
"  the  reputation  of  the  school,  and  the  liberal  principles  by  which  it  is 

2 


10 

"  governed.  Edinburgh  has  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  students  ai 
"  medicine,  and  a  population  less  than  that  of  New- York ;  but  it  hat 
"  celebrated  professors ;  none  are  oppressed  by  superior  authority,  and 
"  they  draw  students  from  all  parts  of  Europe  and  America.  Within 
"  four  hours'  ride  is  the  University  of  Glasgow ;  and  they  both  prosper, 
"  notwithstanding  their  proximity ;  but  Glasgow  has  renowned  profes- 
"  sors  likewise,  and  a  class  of  between  three  and  four  hundred  students 
"  of  medicine ;  nor  is  there  any  attempt  made  in  Scotland  to  depress 
"  one  school,  in  order  to  elevate  the  other.  They  are  left  to  prosecute 
"  their  separate  interests,  as  is  the  case  in  other  pursuits,  by  service- 
"  able  exertion  and  superiority  of  talent." 

The  number  of  students  resorting  to  a  medical  school  does 
not,  it  is  true,  depend  upon  the  population  of  the  city,  or  town, 
where  the  school  is  situated  ;  but  the  number  does  depend,  in 
a  very  great  degree,  up<  >n  the  extent  of  the  surrounding  district. 
Thus  Philadelphia  has  fewer  inhabitants  than  the  city  of  New- 
York  ;  but  the  great  body  of  students  who  resort  to  Philadel- 
phia come  from  those  Southern  States  which  have  no  medical, 
schools  of  their  own  ;  whereas,  New- York  is  surrounded  by  a 
comparatively  small  district  containing  a  great  number  of 
medical  schools. 

As  to  the  example  of  Europe  on  this  subject,  it  is  worthy  of 
imitation.  There  are  but  two  medical  schools  in  England, 
three  in  Scotland,  two  in  Ireland,  three  in  France,  one  in 
Prussia,  &c. ;  but  in  no  city  in  Europe  is  there  more  than  one 
school  having  the  power  to  confer  medical  degrees.*  It  is  only 
in  the  United  States  that  the  experiment  of  establishing  two 
medical  colleges  in  the  same  city  has  been  made  ;  and  thus  far, 
as  will  presently  be  shown,  it  has  clearly  proved  prejudicial 
to  the  interest  and  harmony  of  the  profession.  We  have  never 
objected  to  the  existence  of  rival  colleges  in  separate  cities,  but 
we  do  object  to  the  principle  of  establishing  more  than  one 

*  It  is  necessary  to  mention  that  there  are  colleges  of  surgeons 
and  apothecaries  that  have  the  power  to  grant  licenses  to  those  of 
their  respective  professions,  but  not  of  conferring  the  degree  of  Doc- 
Tor  of  Medicine- 


u 

college  in  the  same  city ;  and  we  challenge  our  opponents  to 
show,  that  in  a  single  instance  where  it  has  been  done,  more 
good  than  evil  has  not  been  the  consequence. 

"  In  Paris  there  are  several  schools  of  medicine:  every  hospital  is 
"  one,  provided  with  a  set  of  professors.  They  teach,  and  such  stu- 
"  dents  attend  them  as  please.  The  professor  of  greatest  reputation 
"has  the  largest  class;  the  dull  or  incompetent  would  have  few 
"hearers.  When  the  student  has  completed  his  studies,  he  gets  an 
"  examination  before  a  body  of  physicians,  called  the  Faculty  of 
"  Paris,  and  a  diploma  is  the  reward  of  his  proficiency.  Similar  to 
"  this  is  the  practice  of  the  most  celebrated  school  of  medicine  in 
"  Germany,  that  of  Berlin.  It  has  more  than  twenty  professors  of 
"  medicine,  any  of  whom  the  student  may  attend  at  his  pleasure,  and 
"  with  the  certificates  of  those  attended,  he  obtains  an  examination 
"  from  the  faculty  of  Berlin,  and  a  diploma  or  not  according  to  his 
"  deserts.  Thus  there  is  emulation  between  the  professors,  but  no 
u  hostility  between  the  schools." 

The  foregoing  statement  is  calculated  to  lead  those  who  are 
not  familiar  with  the  facts,  to  believe  that  the  schools  spoken  of 
in  Paris  and  Berlin  are  in  some  degree  analogous  in  their  or- 
ganization to  the  medical  colleges  in  this  country.  Not  so. 
There  are  indeed  many  teachers — men  who  lecture  on  the 
various  departments  of  medical  science  in  those  cities,  and  also 
in  London ;  but  none  of  those  Schools,  excepting  one  in  Paris 
and  one  in  Berlin,  have  power  to  confer  medical  honours,or  give 
license  to  practise. 

"  In  Philadelphia,  with  a  smaller  population  than  New- York,  there 
"are  near  six  hundred  students  of  medicine  attending  its  two 
*'•  schools,  the  University  and  Jefferson  College ;  but  the  constituted 
"  authorities  do  not  oppress  one  to  favour  the  other.  When  Jefferson 
"  College  applied  for  a  charter,  it  was  violently  opposed  by  the  Uni- 
"  versity,  as  we  are  here,  and  through  the  same  selfish  motive  ;  but 
"the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  granted  the  charter  notwith- 
"  standing,  and  medical  education  in  Philadelphia  has  been  the  better 
-« for  it." 

The  foregoing  is  not  the  only  instance  in  which  the  success- 


12 

till  progress  and  flourishing  condition  of  the  Philadelphia  schools 
have  been  triumphantly  set  forth,  to  demonstrate  the  utility  of 
city-rivalship  in  medical  institutions.  An  examination  of  the 
facts  in  relation  to  these  schools,  will  show  with  what  correct- 
ness such  representations  have  been  made. 

In  the  year  1824,  when  there  was  but  one  medical  school 
in  Philadelphia,  the  number  of  students  was  424.  In  the  year 
1825,  Jefferson  College  was  established,  and  had  about  100 
pupils  ;  there  were  in  the  University  that  year  487  students. 
From  that  time  to  the  present,  the  aggregate  number  of  me- 
dical students  in  Philadelphia  has  every  year  been  diminishing: 
so  that  this  session  (1829-30),  there  have  been  but  362  in  the 
school  of  the  Univeisity,  and  112  in  Jefferson  College ;  making 
in  the  whole  474: — a  less  number  by  13  than  attended  the 
University  alone  in  1825  ;  and  more  than  100  less  than  attended 
the  two  schools  the  same  year.  In  Baltimore,  the  result 
of  two  schools  has  been  equally  striking.  The  number  of  pu- 
pils in  that  city  was  reported  at  300,  when  there  was  but  one 
school.  It  has  now  diminished  to  about  200  in  both.  This,  in 
addition  to  what  has  been  stated  on  the  subject  in  relation  to 
our  own  city,  is  the  amount  of  all  that  can  be  adduced,  from 
experience,  to  show  the  influence  of  two  medical  colleges  in 
one  city,  so  far  as  respects  the  number  of  pupils.  And  this  is 
the  most  favourable  aspect  of  the  whole  matter.  The  perpe- 
tual hostilities  existing  between  the  respective  parties,  and  the 
feuds  and  jealousies  engendered  by  them,  not  only  injure 
the  character  of  the  schools,  but  are  manifestly  hurtful  to 
the  profession  at  large,  and  to  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity. 

"  Our  opponents  complain  that  their  incomes  are  small,  and  ask 
"  the  Legislature  to  act  against  our  institution,  that  they  may  be 
"  enabled  to  make  larger  profits.  They  must  have  great  reliance 
"  upon  their  influence  in  the  Legislature,  when  they  hope  to  enlist  it 
"  as  a  partv  to  their  personal  interests.     In  default  of  this  measure. 


•'  they  threaten  your  honourable  body  with  a  demand  lor  Legislative 
"  aid  to  make  up  deficiencies.  Happy  they  who  have  such  excellent. 
"  friends  and  bountiful  patrons  !  As  for  us,  we  assure  you  we  shall 
''make  no  call  for  pecuniary  assistance,  satisfied  that  upon  an  equal 
"  footing,  we  and  they  would  have  precisely  all  the  remuneration  we 
"  deserved.  The  effects  of  a  fair  competition  between  the  colleges 
"  in  this  city  has  not  yet  been  tried.  One  of  them  has  been  fostered 
"  indeed  by  the  Regents  of  the  Legislature,  and  yet  with  all  this  nursing, 
"  it  does  not  greatly  thrive.  The  other  has  suffered  under  the  heavy 
"  hands  of  both;  but  yet  there  is  something  within  it  which  maintains 
"  it  still.  With  only  a  clear  stage  and  no  favour,  it  might  yet  entitle 
"  itself  to  the  approbation  of  those  eminent  bodies.  After  four  years 
"of  exclusive  favour  to  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
"  Barclay-street,  it  comes  forward  now  for  an  increase  of  the  tariff. 
"  Such  are  the  blessings  which  the  exclusive  system  showers  upon 
"  its  supporters,  and  we  trust  your  honourable  body  will  entertain  a 
"just  sense  of  their  value  and  importance." 

Perhaps  nothing  in  this  singular  document  is  more  surprising 
than  the  unparalleled  effrontery  of  the  foregoing  paragraph. 
In  referring  to  the  records  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  it  appears,  that  under  the  administration  of  these  gen- 
tlemen, who,  were  not  only  professors, but  who,  with  their  profes- 
sorial associates,  constituted  a  majority  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
and  managed  the  moneyed  concerns  of  the  institution,  the  sum 
of  $66,457  27,  the  munificent  bounty  of  the  State,  was  ex- 
pended, it  was  said,  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  College : 
and  when  these  gentlemen  resigned  their  professorships,  the  in- 
stitution was  actually  encumbered  with  a  debt,  as  they  allege,  of 
$20,000,  claimed  to  be  due  to  them, — the  very  persons  whom 
the  State  invested  with  its  property,  in  trust,  for  the  purposes 
of  medical  science ;  and  for  this  sum  of  more  than  eighty-six 
thousand  dollars,  there  was  nothing  to  show  but  the  bare  walls 
of  the  college,  and  a  small  library :  so  that  if  the  claim  of  these 
quondam  professors  had  been  acknowledged,  the  institution 
would  actually  have  been  bankrupt.  Well  may  they  congratu- 
late those  "  who  have  such  excellent  friends  and  bountiful  pa- 
trons,"    Weil  may  they  dispense  with  further  pecuniary  assist- 


14 

iiiice  !  Well,  it  may  be  supposed,  could  they  atlbrd  to  erect 
another  college  edifice !  And  these  facts  serve  well  to  explain, 
what  that  "  something  within  it"  is,  "  which  maintains  it  still !" 
How  has  it  been  in  relation  to  the  moneyed  concerns  of  the 
college  since  the  appointment  of  the  present  Faculty  ?  Your  ho- 
nourable body  well  know,  that  not  a  dollar  has  been  received 
from  the  Legislature,  excepting  the  continuance  of  an  annuity 
of  $500,  received  from  the  honourable  the  Regents  of  the  Uni- 
versity ;  and  that  with  this,  many  of  the  minor  debts,  contracted 
by  the  former  professors,  have  been  paid  off. 

"  Our  opponents  object  to  us  that  we  fill  the  office  of  Professors  in 
"  the  schools  which  we  established.  Would  they  have  us  erect  it  at 
"  our  expense  to  hand  it  to  them  for  their  emolument  ?  We  were 
"  Professors  in  the  College  of  Physicians,  and  give  lectures  now,  as 
"  when  we  were  members  of  that  body.  We  began  by  investing 
"twenty-five  thousand  dollars  in  a  college  edifice,  and,  acting  like 
"  other  discreet  persons,  we  keep  the  control  of  our  own  estate ; 
"  although  we  devote  it  to  public  use.  In  this  manner  banks,  turn- 
"  pikes,  insurance  companies,  &c,  are  private  property,  and  public 
"  benefits.  They  require  that  the  offices  in  the  Rutgers'  Medical 
"  Faculty  shall  be  open  to  the  competition  of  all  the  scientific  men 
"  of  the  country :  so  they  are,  as  often  as  there  are  vacancies ;  but 
"we  do  not  suffer  favouritism  to  fill  them." 

We  will  not  dwell  upon  the  absurdity  of  these  sentiments  : 
your  honourable  body  know  better  than  your  memorialists, 
what  would  be  the  result  to  the  cause  of  science,  should  every 
man,  or  body  of  men,  who  are  able  to  erect  a  college  edifice, 
be  permitted  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  controlling  the  con- 
cerns, and  dispensing  the  important  powers  and  privileges, 
which  are  now  wisely  intrusted  by  your  honourable  body  to 
the  Board  of  Regents.  That  the  gentlemen  have  a  right  to 
invest  their  money  in  a  college  edifice,  or  if  they  please  in 
a  court-house,  no  one  will  deny ;  but  we  have  yet  to  learn-, 
that  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  will  thereby  be  entitled  to  the 
prerogative  of  professors  of  colleges  or  of  judges 


16 

,;-  Trustees  of  a  college  may,  from  private  friendship,  appoint  me* 
••  diocrity  to  professorships,  and  seek  to  enrich  it  by  monopolies ;  but 
"  individual  interest  is  not  so  generous.  When  your  memorialists 
li  had  first  a  vacancy  in  their  body,  they  appointed  to  it  the  most  able 
"  Professor  they  could  find ;  for  they  well  knew  that  their  individual 
"  interest  was  increased  or  lessened  by  the  reputation  of  their  school. 
"  and  the  ability  of  its  teachers.  No  trustees  could  say  as  much. 
"  When  a  vacancy  occurred  a  second  time  in  their  body,  they  followed 
"  the  same  course.  To  the  most  worthy  was  their  rule  of  selection, 
"without  distinction  of  place  or  country,  justly  considering  the  re- 
"  public  of  letters  as  extending  to,  and  embracing,  all  enlightened 
"  nations." 

The  foregoing  paragraph  affords  another  striking  specimen 
of  the  characteristic  fallacy  of  the  memorial  of  the  gentlemen 
of  Rutgers'.  They  have  fallen  into  the  unaccountable  mis- 
take, that  the  Trustees  have  the  power  of  appointing  professors,, 
Since  the  gentlemen  have  become  professors  by  "  a  spon- 
taneous association  of  the  elements,"*  they  seem  to  have  forgot- 
ten that  they  were  once  indebted  for  those  honours  to  the  honour- 
able the  Regents  of  the  University.  Surely  your  memorialists 
have  never  arrogated  to  themselves  the  authority  which  their 
opponents  thus  gratuitously  ascribe  to  them  ;  and  though  the 
gentlemen  exult  that  such  is  their  independence  and  power, 
your  memorialists  still  think  that  your  honourable  body  have 
more  wisely  confided  these  important  trusts  to  the  Regents  of 
the  University.  But  as  it  is  almost  incredible  that  our  oppo- 
nents should  be  ignorant  in  relation  to  the  power  of  appoint- 
ment, it  is  natural  to  inquire,  why  they  should  ascribe  it  to  the 
Trustees,  instead  of  the  Regents  ?  It  is  sufficiently  obvious  to 
your  memorialists,  that  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  charging  upon 
the  former,  that  flagrant  abuse  of  official  power,  which  even 
their  hardihood  dare  not  impute  to  the  latter. 

"  The  last  effort  of  our  opponents  is,  to  bring  up  the  futile  and 
"  often-confuted  accusation  concerning  the  debts  of  the  College  of 

*  Vide  Dr,  MitchilFs  Lectures  on  the  origin  of  Monads* 


16 

''  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  in  the  hope,  perhaps,  that  as  the  members 
"  of  the  Legislature  often  change,  there  maybe  found  some  one  among 
"  them  unacquainted  with  that  matter,  and  who  may  be  deluded  by 
"  the  hardihood  of  the  charge.  To  this  we  simply  say  at  present. 
"  that  any  inculpation  of  the  former  professors  is  unfounded,  is  un- 
"  true.  And  to  prove  this,  our  task  is  easy :  we  refer  to  the  journals 
"  of  the  house,  where  will  be  found  the  report  of  Messrs.  S.  Van 
"  Rensselaer,  General  Talmadge,  and  Mr.  Marcy,  who  investigated  the 
"  subject,  and  attest  that  no  charge  could  be  brought  against  those 
"  professors.  In  its  necessities  they  lent  money  to  the  College,  be- 
"  cause  they  would  be  the  most  lenient  creditors ;  and  they  left  the 
"  College,  because,  with  other  vexations,  they  were  subjected  to  an 
"  arbitrary  taxation,  which  was  tantamount  to  a  confiscation  of  their 
"  debt." 

Your  memorialists  are  not  surprised  that  their  opponents 
should  be  startled  by  the  ghostly  train  of  associations,  un- 
avoidably awakened  by  the  subject  to  which  they  have  alluded 
in  the  last  paragraph.  We  would  not  wantonly  disturb  the 
peace  of  the  gentlemen,  by  a  recurrence  to  transactions  which 
were  so  disastrous  to  their  reputation  and  to  the  cause  of  medi- 
cal science  ;  but  when  it  is  said  by  them,  that  "  any  inculpation 
of  the  former  professors  is  unfounded,  is  untrue,"  your  memo- 
rialists are  in  duty  bound  to  state,  that  without  explanation  it 
is  calculated  to  mislead.  If  the  gentlemen  mean  it  to  be  un- 
derstood, that  the  reports  of  the  Regents,  and  of  their  commit- 
tee, exculpate  them  from  any  charge  which  rendered  them 
obnoxious  to  penal  law,  their  assertion  is  doubtless  true ;  but  if  (as 
would  be  inferred  from  their  statement  just  quoted)  they  mean  to 
represent  that  there  is  any  thing  in  those  reports,  contradictory 
of  aught  that  has  been  advanced  by  your  memorialists  in  relation 
to  the  moneys  expended  during  their  connexion  with  the  College, 
or  the  financial  embarrassments  of  the  institution  at  the  time  of 
their  resignation,  then,  we  repeat,  their  statement  is  evasive, 
and  calculated  to  mislead ;  for  not  a  statement  has  been  made 
by  your  memorialists  in  relation  to  the  improvident  expendi- 
tures of  the  former  professors,  or  to  the  debts  of  the  College 


17 

Contracted  by  them,  that  is  not  confirmed  by  the  records  of 
the  institution.  What  but  an  acknowledgment  of  these  facts 
can  be  inferred  from  the  last  sentence  of  the  foregoing  paragraph? 
"In  its  necessities  they  (the  professors)  lent  money  to  the  Col- 
lege, because  they  would  be  the  most  lenient  creditors."  For 
what  did  the  College  want  money  ?  It  had  received,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  more  than  sixty-six  thousand  dollars,  while 
under  their  own  management ;  and  if  its  credit  were  good,  and 
only  a  temporary  loan  were  required,  why  the  necessity  of  such 
lenient  creditors?  And  finally,  why  the  necessity  of  that  "  ar- 
bitrary taxation,"  (by  the  Regents,  be  it  recollected,)  which, 
"with  other  vexations,"  induced  them  to  leave  their  places  in  the 
College?  Vexations  they  have  indeed  had ;  and  we  would  ask 
the  gentlemen  whether  one,  more  ominous  than  the  fear  of  the 
'  confiscation  of  their  debt,"  was  not,  that  at  the  time  of  their  re- 
signation, a  proposition  had  been  for  some  days  pending  in  the 
Board  of  Regents,  to  dismiss  them  all  from  the  College  ? 

"  We  humbly  solicit  a  consideration  of  the  premises,  and  that  your 
st  honourable  body  will  adopt  that  rule  of  free  exertion  which  is  now 
**  universally  admitted  to  be  the  most  conducive  to  improvement  in 
"  every  medical  pursuit. 

"  We  have  not  the  least  objection  to  the  Regents  having  a  superiii- 
"  tending  inspection  over  the  teaching  part  of  our  establishment,  in 
"  common  with  other  institutions  of  the  state. 
"  All  which  is  respectfully  submitted,, 

"  DAVID  HOSACK, 
"  WM.  J.  MACNEVEN, 
"  VALENTINE  MOTT, 
"  JOHN  W.  FRANCIS. 
"  City  of  New- York,  March  10th,  1830." 

Your  memorialists  acquiesce  with  their  opponents,  in  humbly 
soliciting  the  consideration  of  your  honourable  body  in  the 
premises ;  and  after  having  reviewed  every  point  of  contro- 
versy between  us,  we  only  ask  that  favour  and  patronage  may 
be  bestowed  or  withheld,  according  to  the  soundness  or  fallacy 


18 

of  the  arguments  and  representations  submitted.  With  as 
honest  conviction,  that  the  more  scrutinizing  the  investigation, 
the  more  sure  will  be  the  triumph  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  your  memorialists  would  confidently  inquire, 
whether  a  single  fact  has  been  adduced  by  their  opponents,  to 
refute  or  invalidate  the  statements  in  their  former  memorial — 
and  whether  a  single  argument  in  favour  of  their  claim  has 
been  urged,  which  has  not  been  shown  to  be  fallacious  ?  The 
gentlemen  of  Rutgers'  have  indeed  made  frequent  allusion 
to  their  superior  merit,  and  on  the  other  hand,  they  have  not 
failed  in  the  present  instance  to  insinuate,  what  they  have  often 
said  before,  that  the  professors  in  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  are  unqualified  by  their  ignorance  and  dulness 
for  the  stations  which  they  fill.  This  calumny  the  gentlemen 
have  no  doubt  recurred  to  the  more  readily,  because  they  knew 
full  well  that  their  rivals  would  never  condescend  to  reply  to 
it ;  and  your  memorialists  regret  that  they  are  obliged  to  repel 
the  aspersion,  in  order  to  disabuse  the  minds  of  those  who  are 
unacquainted  with  the  respective  parties.  But  they  do  assert, 
without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  if  the  learned  Faculty  of 
Rutgers'  College  is  held  in  higher  estimation  than  that  of  the 
Professors  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  either 
as  teachers  or  practitioners,  it  is  only  in  the  opinion  of  the 
populace,  founded  on  the  repeated  declarations  to  that  effect  of 
the  gentlemen  themselves.  Such  is  not  the  opinion  of  those 
pupils  who  have  attended  the  lectures  of  both ;  such  is  not 
the  opinion  of  the  most  intelligent  portion  of  this  community  ; 
and  such  certainly  is  not  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the 
best  informed  and  most  respectable  physicians  in  this  city. 
It  is  true,  the  present  Professors  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  have  not  rendered  themselves  notorious  by 
lauding  their  own  names,  nor  have  they  seen  fit  to  step  aside 
from  their  professorial  duties,  to  quarrel  with  their  assail- 


19 

ants.  They  have  been  devoted  to  the  object  for  which  they 
were  appointed  —  to  the  instruction  of  medical  students  ; 
and  we  would  now  confidently  inquire,  whether,  from  aught 
that  has  been  adduced  by  their  opponents,  there  is  the 
least  proof  that  they  have  not  fulfilled  their  respective  duties 
ably  and  faithfully  ?  Does  it  appear  that  the  expectations  of 
the  medical  profession,  or  the  community  at  large,  have  not 
been  fully  justified  by  the  new  Faculty  ?  Has  any  complaint 
ever  been  heard  from  the  pupils  who  have  attended  their  lec- 
tures, or  from  the  Trustees  of  the  College,  or  from  the  Regents 
of  the  University  ?  In  short,  has  complaint  ever  been  heard 
from  any  source,  independent  of  their  predecessors  in  the 
College  ?  Your  memorialists  venture  to  say,  it  has  not ;  and 
after  the  repeated  declaration  of  the  gentlemen,  since  their 
resignation,  that  they  would  break  down  the  College,  we  hum- 
bly submit  to  your  honourable  body,  what  weight  ought  to  be 
attached  to  their  defamation — what  claim  they  have  to  legisla- 
tive encouragement  and  favour. 

Would  that  our  opponents  were  as  sparing  in  their  asser- 
tions as  they  are  in  their  proofs — then  would  we  respect  their 
arguments  and  honour  their  intentions ;  but  we  appeal  to  your 
honourable  body,  whether  from  their  own  showing  we  are  not 
compelled  to  withhold  from  them  both  confidence  and  respect. 
They  insinuate  that  the  present  professors  owe  their  appoint- 
ments to  private  friendship  (a  compliment  which  the  Regents 
of  the  University  will  no  doubt  fully  appreciate).  They  ac- 
cuse us  of  hoping  to  enlist  the  influence  of  "-the  Legislature  as 
a  party  to  our  personal  interest ;"  of  "  threatening  your  honour- 
able body  with  a  demand  for  legislative  aid  to  make  up  defi- 
ciencies ;"  of  seeking  to  "  enrich  the  College  by  monopolies." 
Now,  what  evidence  is  there  in  support  of  these  grave  charges  1 
Your  honourable  body  know  full  well  there  is  none.  Was  it 
from  motives  of  personal  friendship  that  two  members  of  the 


20 

present  Faculty  were  invited  to  resign  eligible  appointments 
which  they  held  in  other  highly  respectable  institutions,  to  ac- 
cept of  professorships  in  this  ?  or  was  it  not  rather  that  those 
gentlemen  were  better  qualified  than  any  other  that  could  be 
selected  to  fill  the  stations  they  occupy  ? — Again,  we  would 
ask  our  opponents,  on  what  authority  do  they  say  that  petitions 
by  your  memorialists  to  the  Legislature  for  money  have  been 
accompanied  by  a  threat,  and  that  application  is  now  made  by 
them  "  for  an  increase  of  the  tariff?"     We  fearlessly  aver  that 
these  assertions  are  without  prooi  and  without  foundation.     If 
your  memorialists  have  at  any  time  solicited  legislative  aid,  it 
was  not  for  the  purpose  of  enriching  the  professors ;  it  was 
not  "  to  enrich  the  College,"  but  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
lieving the  institution   from  embarrassments  under  which  it 
labours,  in  consequence  of  the  numerous  prosecutions  of  these 
"  lenient  creditors."     And  what  is  the  nature  of  the  "  mono- 
poly" concerning  which  our  opponents  have  been  so  clamor- 
ous ?     It  is  this — the  Trustees  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  ask,  that  the  present  Faculty  may  be  permitted 
to  occupy  the  places  which  were  voluntarily  abandoned  by  their 
rivals,  and  to  which  they  were  appointed  by  the  Regents  of  the 
University,  unmolested  by  the  hostility  of  another  College,  till 
they  have  had  an  opportunity  to  show  their  power  or  inability 
.  to  build  up  a  school,  worthy  of  the  population  of  the  city  and 
the  character  of  the  State ;  and  if  after  thirteen  years'  proba- 
tion, their  success  shall  not  have  equalled  that  of  their  predeces- 
sors, your  memorialists  hereby  solemnly  promise,  for  them- 
selves and  their  successors,  to  abandon  their  trust  for  ever  in 
favour  of  the  medical  Faculty  of  Rutgers'  College.     Your  me- 
morialists ask  for  the  present  Professors  this  simple  privilege,  be- 
cause, as  is  well  known  to  your  honourable  body,  they  accepted 
their  appointment  with  an  implied  pledge  on  the  part  of  the 
State,  through  the  Regents  of  the  University,  that  they  should  at 


91 

least  be  allowed  the  same  field  for  the  exercise  of  their  talents 
and  enterprise  which  had  been  abdicated  by  their  opponents. 
This  is  what  the  gentlemen  now  petitioning  for  another  char- 
ter denominate  "the  exclusive  system,"  and  from  the  vehemence 
of  their  opposition  to  it,  it  might  be  supposed  they  were  moved 
by  an  hereditary  and  unchanging  aversion  to  an   alarming 
scientific  aristocracy.     It  remains  to  be   shown   with  what 
consistency  the  gentlemen  are  now  contending  for  the  op- 
posite  "  rule  of  free   exertion ;"    and    as  your  memorialists 
would  not  willingly  misrepresent  them  by  quoting  an  abstract 
or  isolated  opinion,  they  humbly  solicit  a  careful  comparison  of 
the  sentiments  which  these  gentlemen  have  published  at  vari- 
ous times,  in  regard  to  the  proper  organization,  government, 
and  patronage   of  medical  schools.     On  one   occasion,  the 
learned  President  of  the  Rutgers'  Medical  Faculty  warmly 
approves  of  "  vesting  the  internal  government  of  the  College 
in  a  Board  of  Trustees,  to  be  composed  of  the  President,  Vice- 
President,  Professors,  and  Treasurer  of  the  College ;   with 
others  of  the  most  respectable  members  of  the  profession; — - 
under  the  superintending  and  paternal  care  of  the  Regents  of 
the   University."*      On  another  occasion,  the   same   distin- 
guished individual  exults,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  associates, 
that  they  have  assumed  supreme  power;   and,  as  exclusive 
judges  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  the  administration  of  the 
College,  which  themselves  have  established,  hail  the  time  as  a 
new  and  auspicious  era  in  medical  science.     He  remarks — 
"  Now  no  longer  under  the  restraints  of  rivals  in  the  profession,, 
envious  of  our  prosperity  ;  no  longer  impeded  in  our  progress 
by  a  Board  of  Control :   but  happily  left  to  our  own  judg- 
ment and  experience  to  direct  us,  how  far,  and  in  what  man- 
ner we  can  best  offer  instruction,"  &c.f 

*Dr.  Hosack's  letter  to  Dr.  Stringham,  published  1811. 
+  Inaugural  Discourse,  bv  Dr,  Hosark.  1R26 


22 

Again,  the  same  gentlemen  say,  in  an  address  to  the  Legis- 
lature, in  1816,  in  speaking  of  the  Medical  Faculty  then  in 
connexion  with  the  identical  College  with  which  themselves 
have  since  been  united, "  Self-created  medical  institu- 
tions of  this  kind,  require  but  slight  patronage  to  spring  up, 
whenever  the  good  opinion  which  a  few  gentlemen  entertain 
of  their  own  talents  shall  induce  them  to  assume  the  office 
and  character  of  professors.  Their  task  is  also  very  easy ; 
for  they  are  accountable  to  nobody  for  whatever  they  do,  or 
what  they  neglect.  Far  different  is  the  spirit  in  which  the 
College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  is  founded,  under  the 
sanction  of  the  Legislature." 

While  there  was  a  faculty  of  medicine  in  connexion  with 
Columbia  College,  it  was  assailed  by  them  with  unceasing 
hostility ;  and  the  existence  of  two  schools  in  one  city  depre- 
cated as  an  evil  most  portentous  to  the  interests  of  medical 
science.  At  a  much  later  period,  in  a  memorial  addressed  to 
the  Legislature,  they  say — "  The  practice  of  all  nations  shows 
the  impropriety  of  incorporating  two  medical  schools  in  the 
same  city ;  and  that  the  advancement  of  medical  science  is 
best  promoted  by  one :"  and  the  schools  of  Edinburgh,  Paris. 
Philadelphia,  and  other  cities,  are  cited  to  sustain  their  po- 
sition. 

At  a  still  later  .period,  one  of  their  members,  in  a  letter  to 
one  of  the  Regents,  exclaims  — "  Medical  science  will  be  ruined 
in  this  State,  if  the  Regents  augment  the  number  of  medical 
schools." 

Now,  these  same  gentlemen  are  importunately  soliciting  a 
charter  for  another  school  in  this  city,  decrying  the  injustice  of 
existing  monopolies,  strenuously  contending  for  the  utility  of 
rivalship,  and  again  they  cite  the  schools  of  Edinburgh,  Paris, 
and  Philadelphia  (with  what  propriety  we  have  already 
«bown).  to  illustrate  the  reasonableness  of  their  application. 


&3 

Ask  them  what  has  taken  place  since  1824,  that  now  renders 
it  expedient  to  have  two  medical  schools,  and  they  will  tell 
you  "  there  has  been  a  vast  increase  of  population ;"  while  at 
the  same  moment  they  assert,  in  the  document  which  we  have 
been  reviewing,  "that  the  number  of  medical  students  re- 
sorting to  a  seminary  of  medical  education,  is  not  founded  on 
the  population  of  the  place,"  but  on  the  merits  of  the  teachers. 

After  the  consolidation  of  the  two  schools,  when  all  oppo- 
sition was  suspended,  and  our  opponents  left  to  prosecute  their 
career  under  circumstances  singularly  auspicious  to  their  private 
interest  as  well  as  to  their  reputation,  instead  of  depending  upon 
their  merits  to  build  up  a  useful  and  profitable  school,  they  im- 
mediately began  to  implore  assistance  from  the  Legislature ; 
and  the  most  liberal  and  often  repeated  grants  from  that  ho- 
nourable body  did  not  stop  their  importunity  while  they  were 
connected  with  the  College.  Now,  their  views  on  this  subject, 
too,  have  changed,  and  they  declare  that  men  of  their  merit 
will  never  need  pecuniary  favour. 

Contradictory  opinions  like  these  might  be  multiplied  to  an 
almost  unlimited  number  ;  but  your  memorialists  have  only  a 
wish  to  cite  enough  to  show  that  their  opponents  are  egre- 
giously  wanting  in  judgment  and  stability,  or  that  their  schemes 
have  been  selfish,  and  their  statements  insincere.  In  either 
case,  they  must  be  deemed  unqualified  for  the  important  trusts 
for  which  they  are  petitioners.  We  are  willing  to  leave  it  with 
them  to  settle  the  alternative. 

We  therefore  pray  your  honourable  body,  to  leave  them  and 
their  enterprise,  for  the  sake  of  the  community,  and  the  peace 
of  the  profession,  to  the  certain  and  inevitable  result  of  their 
own  unquestioned  merit.  For  since  this  is  so  fully  established, 
that  pupils  "  under  every  disadvantage  go  to  their  institution," 
it  must  indubitably  continue  to  flourish,  independent  of  that 
"bonus  of   degrees"   which  they  now  so  modestly  and  re- 


24 

specttully  solicit ;  or  rather,  which  they  will  condescend  to 
accept,  provided  the  Regents  will  go  no  further  than  to  inspect 
"  the  teaching  part  of  their  establishment."  The  prayer  of 
these  petitioners  is,  "for  a  clear  stage,  and  no  favour."  We 
most  sincerely  desire  that  it  may  be  granted,  and  that  the 
favour  of  your  honourable  body  will  be  reserved  for  those  who 
deserve  and  can  duly  appreciate  it.  All  which  is  respectfully 
submitted. 

By  order  of  the  Board  of  Trustees, 

JOHN  WATTS,  Jr.,  President 
NiCHOii  H,  Dering,  Register. 


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